'Tis Vanity
Over A Lifetime, That Will Add Up To Something,
But Will It Be A Something We Want?
“It is vanity to wish for a long life,
And to take little care of leading a good life”*
Every moment we make a choice,
The best decision for today
Or the best decision for the long term.
Sometimes those are the same,
sometimes they are not at all.
Politicians in stark relief may choose
political survival
Over the survival of their souls,
their integrity
Or choose what they really feel what’s right
And sometimes lose elections.
But is that a bad thing?
It’s so easily observed, this calculation,
‘Can I get re-elected if I do this,
Or must I do that?’
One such as myself values
Honest disagreement more
Than obsequious hypocrisy...
...that changes with the wind.
But that’s me.
And I’m not sitting in those
Meetings, forced to vote
“yea” or “nay”.
Thank God.
That's a tough job.
But...
'Tis vanity to believe that people
don't recognize that same duplicity
in us.
'Tis hubris when we don't
see it in ourselves.
I can see it, too often,
in myself.
Farmers, unless they are engaged
In social activities,
Don’t have the luxury
Of hypocrisy.
Nature goes on without
Rationalizing.
Farmers can choose
To make short-term choices
That result in money-crops
That leave the land barren
Though
Politicians, farmers,
and me and you
can and do make
those choices
sometimes.
We make these decisions
Each day ourselves.
Sometimes for very good reasons,
But...
Over a lifetime,
they'll add up to something.
Will it be a something that has enriched us
when all is said and done
Or impoverished us, regardless of how
large our bank account
or our power
or our celebrity is?
“It is vanity, therefore, to seek after riches
Which must perish, and to trust in them.”*
*from à Kempis, T. (2013).
The Imitation of Christ (R. Challoner, Trans.). Tan Books & Pub., p. 2
